The paragon of balance is a calling, not unlike paladin-ism. But rather than a call for good and law, their call is to balance ALL things. Freedom, law, good, evil, these things only work in moderation, and when one threatens too great a scope over the others, itís their job to step in and oppose them. Very few can claim the form of personal balance required for such a task, as many have a bias in one direction or another. Paragons of Balance tend to be outsiders, orphans, or the children of hermits. Paragons also have a powerful distaste for outsiders, viewing them as disruptors of the basic order of things.

[QUOTE=RandomFellow;3677466]The Northern Shamans are the religious clergy of the Orcs of Noram. All Northern Shamans are either Orcs or Half-Orcs. Their spellcasting power comes through channeling spirits rather than divine assistance and as such a Shaman's endurance determines his (or her) power.

Detect alignment: At will, the Paragon can use Detect Good, Detect Evil, Detect Law, and detect Chaos at will.

Smite alignment: Once per day, a Paragon may attempt to smite any strong alignment (Lawful Good, Chaotic Evil, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good) with one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals 1 extra point of damage per Paragon level. If the Paragon accidentally smites a creature that is not of a strong alignment, the smite has no effect, but the ability is still used up for that day.

At 5th level, and at every five levels thereafter, the Paragon may smite alignment one additional time per day, as detailed in the chart above.

Neutral Hands: Starting at second level, a Paragon with a charisma score of twelve or higher can heal her own wounds, or the wounds of other neutral characters. This heals half as powerfully on characters one step away from true neutral (neutral good, chaotic neutral, neutral evil, lawful neutral), and cannot be used on characters in any of the extremes. The Paragon can heal a total amount of health equal to their paladin level, divided up as she chooses among any number of targets. Using Neutral Hands is a standard action

Alternately, the Paragon can use this ability to damage any creature with the outsider subtype. This is a melee touch attack that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The paragon decides how many points are dealt after touching the creature.

Balanced Grace: The Paragon uses her charisma bonus as a bonus to all saving throws.

Aura of Assistance:Beginning at 3rd level, a paragon of balance is immune to fatigue, exhaustion, effects (magical or otherwise). Each ally within 10 feet of her gains a morale bonus on a kind of saving throw based on their alignment. These effects stack.

This ability functions while the paragon is conscious, but not if she is unconscious or dead.

Healthy Balance: at third level, a paragon of balance is so perfectly balanced her body becomes immune to disease, including supernatural or magical diseases.

Turn Outsiders: When a paragon of balance reaches 4th level, she gains the supernatural ability to turn outsiders. She may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier. She turns outsiders the same way a cleric turns undead, but she is treated as three levels lower than a cleric in this respect.

Spells: Beginning at 4th level, a paragon of balance gains the ability to cast a small number of divine spells, which are drawn from the cleric spell list. A paragon of balance must choose and prepare her spells in advance.

To prepare or cast a spell, a paragon of balance must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a paladinís spell is 10 + the spell level + the paragon of balanceís Wisdom modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a paragon of balance can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Paragon of balance. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Wisdom score. When Table: The Paragon of Balance indicates that the paragon of balance gets 0 spells per day of a given spell level, she gains only the bonus spells she would be entitled to based on her Wisdom score for that spell level The paladin does not have access to any domain spells or granted powers, as a cleric does.

A paragon of balance prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does, though she cannot lose a prepared spell to spontaneously cast a cure spell in its place. A paladin may prepare and cast any spell on the paragon of balance spell list, provided that she can cast spells of that level, but she must choose which spells to prepare during her daily meditation.

Through 3rd level, a paragon of balance has no caster level. At 4th level and higher, her caster level is one-half her paragon of balance level.

Special beast (Sp)

Upon reaching 5th level, a paragon of balance gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal beast to serve her in her crusade against evil. This beast can be any creature of the (animal) type, though it must be within one size category of the paragon of balance.

Once per day, as a full-round action, a paragon of balance may magically call her beast from the celestial realms in which it resides. This ability is the equivalent of a spell of a level equal to one-third the paladinís level. The beast immediately appears adjacent to the paragon of balance and remains for 2 hours per paragon of balance level; it may be dismissed at any time as a free action. The mount is the same creature each time it is summoned, though the paragon of balance may release a particular mount from service.

Each time the beast is called, it appears in full health, regardless of any damage it may have taken previously. The mount also appears wearing or carrying any gear it had when it was last dismissed. Calling a beast is a conjuration (calling) effect.

Should the paragon of balanceís beast die, it immediately disappears, leaving behind any equipment it was carrying. The paragon of balance may not summon another beast for thirty days or until she gains a paragon of balance level, whichever comes first, even if the beast is somehow returned from the dead. During this thirty-day period, the paragon of balance takes a -1 penalty on attack and weapon damage rolls.

Manipulate Disease (Sp) At 6th level, a paragon of balance can produce a remove disease or an inflict disease effect, as the spell, once per week. She can use this ability one additional time per week for every three levels after 6th (twice per week at 9th, three times at 12th, and so forth).

Code of Conduct

A paragon of balance must be of true neutral alignment and loses all class abilities if she ever loses that alignment. However, a Paragon of Balance who commits an act that would put her alignment outside of True neutral is excused, as long as this act is being done in direct and immediate response to an act by a being of opposing alignment as the aforementioned act. (either on the good/evil or chaos/order axis)

While she may adventure with characters of any neutral alignment, she is reluctant to willingly associate with anyone with a strong alignment in any direction, especially those with double-alignments. (LG, CN, LE, CE). She views those with such strong biases as potentially unbalancing, and only travels with them to aid her important quests she could not do herself.

Kellus

2007-12-21, 11:03 PM

So it's a paladin that's true neutral instead of lawful good? It seems balanced... Against the paladin. :smalleek:

Honestly, if you want my advice I'd say to work on making an entirely new class instead of just trying to make the paladin, a mechanically subpar class, into what you're hoping to get. Honestly, some of this just doesn't make any sense: neutral hands? Balanced grace?

Healthy balance made me giggle, mostly because I imagined a paladin on a TV ad for a cereal as part of a nutritious and balanced breakfast. :smalltongue:

... But yeah. I'd suggest just working from the ground up, instead of trying to adapt a foundation that's already poor.

Umarth

2007-12-22, 08:47 AM

Aura of Grace: Why would other true neutral characters gain no benefit from this while those farthest away on the alignment chart gain the most?

Kai-Palin

2007-12-22, 10:20 AM

Having a class that is slightly better than a paladin, and who is also completely immune to status effects at 3rd level is just a tad overpowered in my view. This class seems eminently dippable for three or four levels.

Admiral Squish

2007-12-22, 02:08 PM

Well, am I at least allowed to call it a good first try?

Umarth

2007-12-22, 04:28 PM

Well, am I at least allowed to call it a good first try?

Yup. Now go take another stab at it with the feedback provided. That's what it's all about after all.